Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had discussions with representatives of Heathrow Airport on its use of the Smiths Detection system at Terminal 2; and if his Department will make an comparative estimate of costs of (a) Smiths Detection system and (b) other standard security screening systems.

The Department for Transport is in regular contact with all security regulated airports about upgrading their security checkpoints over the next few years. This includes Heathrow Airport. Decisions on the type of equipment that airports want to use at security checkpoints is between the airport and manufacturers.

Any equipment in use must meet the security standards set by the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) and be approved for use by the Department for Transport. Approved equipment can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/aviation-security-screening-approved-equipment-list. We do not provide specific details of the security equipment in use.